


World of Hues

by aokaroiz



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fluff, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-02
Updated: 2015-05-20
Packaged: 2018-03-26 16:08:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3856819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aokaroiz/pseuds/aokaroiz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The people of the world see in black and white, not a drop of color starting from the moment they are born. Hues of grays and blacks fill the objects of the world, and Kagami Taiga honestly couldn't care less.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Meeting

**Author's Note:**

> A million thanks to kyahgamis for constantly checking and rechecking and helping me in every way possible

The people of the world see in black and white, not a drop of color starting from the moment they are born. Hues of grays and blacks fill every object. Instead of a beautiful rainbow filled with lava red and sunshine yellow, it’s just a giant arch in the sky consisting of different shades of gray. Instead of a colorful silk scarf embroidered with the most exotic of colors and dyes, it’s a bland and gloomy piece of soft fabric. They would live like that until the day they met the one – their soul mate. Upon seeing them, an explosion of color would invade their lives and their once peaceful black and white world would be colorful, filled with warm yellows and pale greens. According to legend, this happens because only those who have found love have the right to see such a magnificent world - although, nothing really happens if you don’t meet your soul mate, you’d just live in a world different from others. But it became a thing, to find your soul mate, and at times, a person would be an outcast if they weren’t looking for the one. But even so, such a concept, is hard to grasp for some. People who have lived their whole lives in dull colors can’t help but not believe that the ‘new world with bright colors’ is even real. Others didn’t like the idea that they had to be with a person they may not like _just_ because they got the ability to see color from them.

Both cases applied for Kagami Taiga.  He had just graduated from high school and got scouted to play for San Diego on a scholarship -- he had no time for romance, no time to date or look for love, barely any time to think about how ridiculous the whole concept of ‘colors’ was. He didn’t like the idea of just meeting a person, being able to see colors, and then being with them forever because of it. He didn’t like the fact that just because they were soul mates, meant that they had to be together. He felt restricted, held down. What if his soul mate was a jerk and completely opposite from his ideal type? Was he supposed to just accept it because she gave him color? No. He didn’t like this, he wouldn’t accept it. He’d run from it - run, and run.

Running didn’t work though when one of his teammates had found their apparent soul mate and was constantly talking about how he could see colors and how ridiculous the basketball looked with its bright color.  He tries to ignore it though and focus on what was most important in his life, which was basketball, and, at the moment, passing the stupid math test he had the next day.

“Kagami-kun, I think you can shoot the ball now.” The redhead hears behind him, causing the boy to lose his hold on the ball, letting it drop to the ground and bounce away. He spins on his heels, face half the shade it was earlier as he starts yelling at his teammate.

“Oi! I told you to stop doing that, Kuroko!”

The other merely looks at him with his blank expression, as always, and replies with: “Yes, but I was standing there for a while. What were you thinking about Kagami-kun? You were in that position for a while, it started to scare me.”

Kuroko Tetsuya, who was one of his teammates, had just been recently scouted from Japan and was the one that had found his soul mate. He also had this weird way of playing basketball, some magical passing thing, Kagami didn’t completely understand it yet, but it helped them win, so he didn’t mind.

Kagami gives a deep sigh and gently rubs the creases along his forehead before leaning down to scoop up the ball he had dropped.

“Nothing really.” He mutters, not wanting to get into the whole soul mates thing again, as they did almost every time they spoke.

“Ah, I know. It’s about your soul mate, right?  Don’t worry, I won’t try to set you up again.” The boy reassures before heading to the bleachers to grab his bag, not even waiting for Kagami to reply.

“Right… thanks.” He remembers when they first met and Kuroko tried to set him up with every person he could, but he had avoided all the dates, gave the most ridiculous excuses like ‘I  have to take care of this cat’ or, ‘I need to get this laundry for this elderly lady’. Eventually though, the dates and set-ups were dropped, and he was left in peace. It has been almost a month since he had met Kuroko, and still he couldn’t understand the guy. He was always so calm, so collected it seemed, and nonchalant about everything. Not to mention the fact that he had a weird invisibility power and mind reading.

Kagami aims and shoots the basketball into its rightful place in the hamper before joining his the other at the bleachers.

“In and Out?” He suggests, to which the blue haired boy nodded, and the two head out to their favorite burger joint, as they usually did after practice.

 

~//~

 

“You know Kagami-kun, you shouldn’t eat so much. You’ll get a stomach ache.”

Kagami groans when he hears this, not waiting to finish chewing before he spoke, “You’ve said that a bunch of times already. Just leave it, it’s fine. I practice a lot, therefore, I eat a lot.” He stares at the other quietly sipping on his vanilla shake, “I still don’t get how you can only have that and be full.”

“Because Kagami-kun, I don’t have a black hole as a stomach.” The redhead was going to reply, probably with something incredibly stupid and _not_ witty, but a melodic ringtone fills the air and Kuroko goes to answer his phone. He stares at the screen for a few moments, making Kagami wonder who it was, when the other finally answered the call.

“Aomine-kun?” He hears him say, “Its rare for you to call, especially after all this time.” There is a pause as he waits for this ‘Aomine’ to reply before Kuroko continues, “No, Momoi-san would call me, you just spoke from the background. Anyway, what did you need?... Oh? You’re coming here?” At that moment, Kuroko glances up at Kagami, making him curious. But the other’s expression was blank, as always, but there was just something about the look that made him uneasy. “I see. Well, it’ll be a change to see you around here. Do you know where you’re staying?” Another pause as Aomine replies, “Alright, I can meet you there tomorrow after class. Okay, goodbye.” Kuroko sets down his phone before looking at Kagami again.

“One of my friends from Japan is coming here, he was on the basketball team with Kise and I back in middle school. Apparently he’s going to fill that position for that university we practiced against last week. They’ll be a tough competitor from now on.” He simply states.

“Huh? He can’t be that good.”

“He’s better than you.” It wasn’t exactly that Kuroko had said that, because Kagami knows that there are people better than him, it was just the _way_ Kuroko had said it. It was a quick reply, no thinking required. It made Kagami nervous, curious, and _excited_. He knew Kuroko, he didn’t exaggerate, he just stated the facts. “Kagami-kun, you’re smiling.” He hears from the other.

He nods, “Yeah, I’m getting excited to meet him, see how good he is.”

“Aomine-kun plays like you, but he’s faster.” Kuroko takes a long sip of his shake as Kagami finishes off the burger in his hand. “He might be your soul mate.”

The last statement had been so sudden, so random, and it caught Kagami off guard, the redhead coughing on the new burger he had unwrapped. “What makes you say that?” He demands, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

“I just have a feeling. You’d compliment each other.”

“But he’s a guy.”

“So is Kise.”

Kagami just stares at Kuroko, and he stares back. It wasn’t like he had anything against homosexuals, he didn’t care who they liked. But he had always thought of himself as a boobs kind of guy. Not that he ever had a long nor serious relationship with any girls. Alex always said he had a complex, whatever that meant. “I’m not meeting him then.” He states after the silence.

“I don’t understand why you’re so scared of meeting your soul mate. Its an amazing feeling, to be able to see colors.”

“Thats not the whole thing though.” Kagami sighs, hating how they got back into this somewhat of a taboo subject. “I just don’t want to be held back and tied down by this stupid soul mate thing. What if I end up hating whoever it is? Why would I want to spend forever with them just because they’re my soul mate?”

“Yes, you may end up hating them, Aomine is known to draw that kind of feeling out of people, but if they’re your soul mate, it’ll feel different - you’d feel complete with them.”

Kagami wants to gag on his food from all this talk of feeling ‘complete’ and ‘different’ and just soul mates in general. “I’m not like you and Kise.” He starts, his gaze down at his half eaten burger, “I don’t care about feeling complete or whatever. I’m fine with seeing in grayscale.”

“I don’t believe that.” There it is again, Kuroko’s ‘I know I’m always right’ voice - he hated that voice.

“Well you’re wrong.” Crap. The way he said that sounded like he was whining, like he was a pouting 5- year old. “I don’t want a soul mate.”

Kuroko sighs and finishes off his shake before setting it down gently on the table, “I’m just worried about you Kagami-kun. I don’t want you to be the only one within your friends without a soul mate.”

Kagami shrugs, picking at his fries now, something his father would never approve of since playing with food was a big no no. “I’m not though. You’re the only one on the team that has a soul mate.” He mutters.

“True. But they aren’t completely avoiding the subject. They actually want to find their soul mate, you don’t. What’re you gonna do in twenty years? You won’t be able to play anymore and you’ll be lonely.”

The way that the other had put it was harsh, but he understood that it was only out of concern. He had thought about this before, what he would do when he got older and without a life to spend with. He could always just find a person he liked, something he _truly_ had feelings for despite the lack of color, and marry them. But there weren’t many people like that, many people like him. “I’ll just figure it out when the time comes.” He replies, acting like he wasn’t worried.

“I don’t think you will though. You definitely work hard when it counts, at least when it comes to basketball, but for things you don’t care about, you just let them be.”

“Well who cares?” Kagami throws back, “I mean, is it really bad that I don’t want to meet my soul mate? I can be different right?”

Kuroko nods, expression exactly the same as it was when they first started this conversation, “It's not a bad thing to be different. But it's a bad thing to not give anything a chance. Be open minded.”

“I am open minded.” This came out more like a growl, and Kagami almost felt bad, but he was irritated, with Kuroko, and himself.  Because of his tone, the conversation is dropped, and they sit in silence for a while, leaving Kagami to his thoughts. He stares down at the burger in his hand, and then the tray, his drink, and the fries. Everything was gray, or some variation of it, whether it be closer to white, or black. The wrapper practically blended in with the bun, and he remembers Kuroko describing the wrapper as ‘orange’, whatever that was. Orange was supposed to be the color of the sunset, the basketball he loved so much, and the fruit, orange, go figure. His eyes flicker to the tray. Red, he remembers the other also describing this to him. Red was the color of his hair and eyes, something Kuroko had said was like fire, fierce and powerful. He didn’t know colors could be so descriptive, he only knew them as vocabulary for the legend. Like blue, and green, and yellow. He didn’t understand how the vast oceans and the water in his cup as well as Kuroko’s hair were this ‘blue’ and that green was the color of grass and yellow was the color of the sun. He didn’t get how if you mixed red and green you got yellow. He didn’t understand colors in general.

What he _did_ get was that if you had white, and you mixed it with black, you got gray. The more white you added, the lighter the gray got, and the more black you added, the darker the gray got. It was simple to understand and made a hell of a lot more sense than ‘red and green make yellow’.

Suddenly, his companion speaks, asking about their next practice match in three days in the next city over. The redhead is thankful for this, feeling a headache coming on from all the colors he was thinking about, but that doesn't mean he didn't see those looks Kuroko was giving him. Those looks that said, 'I'm right, I know I am and I'm going to prove it to you'. Kagami is reluctant to say that he knows this look well. He's seen it when he ate that super spicy pepper the week before,regardless of his teammates warnings, and when he made a bet that he could gather more girls than Kise, whom he had only known for a few minutes at the time, with just flirting and talking with them. What a stupid bet. He was just too caught up in the moment when the blonde brought up all the girls he had fawning over him. Of course, this was before he knew that Kise was a model, first in Japan, and now in America. There was no way he'd win.  

He wasn't the only one who got that 'I know I'm right' look from Kuroko though. Kise was in the same boat he was.

The blonde constantly did things that earned him that look, though he doubt's its more than him. And, speaking of Kise...

"Ah! Kurokocchi! Kagamicchi! Are you done with practice already?" Kise slips into the booth next to his boyfriend and leans in to give him a kiss, lips pursed and making that obnoxious kissing sound.

Kuroko puts his hand up to block the other, to his dismay, "Kise-kun. I'm quite sure that I told you before that I don't appreciate public displays of affection."

"Ahhh but Kurokocchiiii~" The other whines before pouting, his arms flailing around as if that would do anything to change the other’s mind.

“No buts. You’ll just have to wait till we get back to our apartment.”

“Ahh but thats gonna take forever~” Kagami stares at the couple in front of him with slight disgust. It wasn’t the whole soul mate thing, it was the whole lovey dovey thing, he never did too well with that.

“Oh, Kise-kun, I think I should inform you that Aomine-kun is coming here. I’ll be meeting him tomorrow.” Kuroko says, quickly changing his subject.

Kise’s eyes widen in surprise and he cocks his head to the side in wonder, “Aominecchi is? Are you sure?” When Kuroko confirms this with a nod, Kise hums a little in thought before he smiles and reaches forward to steal some fries from Kagami’s tray. “Should be fun, I guess. We haven’t seen him in a while. Where’s he playing?”

Kuroko answers, and suddenly the conversation turns into a dangerous road called ‘Aomine’, a road that Kagami wanted to stay off. He tries to not listen to their words, and instead focuses on finishing up the last burger he had, which only took him about thirty seconds to do. In the end, he’s leaned back in his chair, thinking about the math test he should be studying for instead of spending time here, and decides that he should probably do just that.

Standing up and kicking his chair back,  Kagami picks up his tray filled with a mountain of wrappers, hand raised slightly as a lazy wave, “I’ll be leaving then. See you in class, Kuroko. See you later, Kise.” The two say their goodbyes, and he dumps the garbage before heading back to his apartment, telling himself over and over again that he was going to go home, take a shower, then study his ass off.

 

~//~

 

Gentle rays of light filter through the thin curtains and splay over Kagami’s room, illuminating the boy’s sleeping features and creating shadows along the items on his desk . He’s spread out over the sheets, clothes from the night before still on, and his mouth hanging open to allow a small river of drool to form on the edge of his pillow. It’s the sound of his phone that wakes him up, the steady beat of _Eye of the Tiger_ flowing through the air, rousing the boy from his sleep to answer the call.

“Hmm... Hello…?” He answers, voice heavy and husky with sleep.

“Kagami-kun? Did you just wake up?” Kuroko’s voice rings out.

“Yeah… why?” Kagami rolls over onto his back, grunting in the process.

“You do realize that math class starts in five minutes? We planned to review the formulas beforehand remember?”

Kagami shoots up in bed, eyes wide and brain spinning as he tries to wrap his head around this.  “Ah! Sorry, Kuroko! I’ll be there soon okay?”

“It isn’t me that should be worried. You’re already at a C in this class and its only been the third week.”

“I know I know!” Kagami sighs and he jumps, or more like trips, out of bed and attempts to find clean clothes, “I’m changing now okay? I’ll be there.” He breaths and hangs up without waiting for a reply. He jumps into his basketball shorts and then deciding that his wrinkled white t-shirt was good enough, before grabbing his bag and running out the door… though runs back in to grab his phone, which he had left on his bed, and properly locks up before heading to class.

 

 

“Are you okay, Kagami-kun?”

It was after the test and the redhead had his forehead pressed against the wall of a classroom building. He had gotten to class a few minutes late, thanks to this elderly lady who was crossing the street and he just _couldn’t_ let her walk by herself, and the fact that he didn’t live in the dorms, but in an apartment a few blocks away. And then during the test, he had blanked out, despite having studied for a bit the night before. And by a bit he means about ten minutes before Tatsuya called him with plans for a one-on-one on the weekend and then he passed out on his bed. So it was no wonder that Kagami knew about a fourth of the questions on the test and that his brain felt like it had melted.

“Remind me to never take math again Kuroko.” He finally answers after a few moments of silence.

“Impossible. You have to take at least four math classes to get your degree.” Kagami groans loudly, causing some students to look their way. He turns and rests his back against the wall, scowling down at his friend just as the other opens his mouth to speak, “Are you ready then? We’ll be late if we don’t leave now.”

“Huh? Late for what?” Kuroko starts walking, prompting Kagami to follow, “Kuroko, where’re we going?”

“To pick up Aomine-kun. I said I’d meet with him after class.”

This stops Kagami mid-step, his hands clutching tightly onto the strap of his messenger bag. “You can go yourself then.” He answers, voice firm and even.

Kuroko looks back and turns, expression, the usual, and after a few moments of staring at his teammate, he nods, much to Kagami’s surprise, “Okay, I won’t force you then. I’ll see you later.” He says before continuing down the path towards the main road.

Caught off guard, Kagami can only stand and stare as he watches Kuroko pull out his phone while walking, quickly texting someone, before disappearing around the corner.

“Weird…” Kagami mutters to himself, though thinks little of the subject as his stomach growls - he hadn’t eaten breakfast yet. He adjusts his bag on his shoulder then heads down the road to the nearest In and Out, reading for some cheeseburgers to still his hunger.

 

 

“Kagamicchi!” Kise slips into the booth across from his own, smiling wide and eyes sparkling.

Kagami blinks a few times at the boy in front of him, swallowing before he spoke, “Kise? What’re you doing here? I thought you’d be with Kuroko to meet that friend of yours.”

Kise waves his hand in front of him and shakes his head, “I can see Aominecchi later, besides, I have a photoshoot in a bit.” Something about the way he said this was a bit off, but why would he be lying? There was no reason to.

“Ah, okay…” Kagami wasn’t that interested, needless to say, so he strikes up a conversation about playing Kise’s team for a practice match in the next week. The other answers slowly, his cell in hand and fingers pounding the flat keyboard as he smiled mischievously. It wasn’t a smile he liked, and in a way, reminded him of the way Kuroko would look at him when they had talked about Aomine.

“Sorry about that.” Kise apologizes and places the phone on the table, hands folded neatly in front of him, his smile still in place. “Kurokocchi sent me here to see if you were here, then to keep you here if you were here.”

Kagami’s eyebrows raise in question, and he’s already getting a horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach because if its Kuroko and Kise, its never anything good. “How come?” he asks fearfully.

“Because he’s bringing Aominecchi here.”

Kagami stands up a bit too quickly, but he ends up hitting both knees against the table and he slumps back into the booth, growling at the pain, “Why the hell is he doing that?” The redhead asks, despite it being obvious.

“Kurokocchi believes that Aominecchi may be your soul mate; I’d have to agree with that. He’s perfect for you! I mean, really, if he wasn’t, then what would be the problem?”

“Thats not the problem, Kise.” Kagami sighs and starts to make his way out of the booth the correct way by scooting himself out, the blonde quickly following with a grin wider than before. “The problem would be if he was my soul mate.”

“And why would that be a problem?” The voice that Kagami suddenly hears behind him is deep, deeper than his, smooth, fruity, and oh god it was like sex for his ears. Without even thinking about it, as if fate or destiny or whatever, was making him do it, Kagami turns around to face the owner of this voice. And then, it happens.

He was overwhelmed instantly, gasping in shock and almost falling to the ground, his hand landing on the table to keep himself up. He closes his eyes, and he tries to calm himself down enough to grasp onto what just happened. Then it hit him.

_Colors._


	2. Day 1

Kagami refuses to open his eyes. Absolutely refuses. Even when he had regained his balance and was now standing next to the table awkwardly.

“What the hell’s his problem?” He hears, that smooth, velvet like voice reaching his ears and sending shivers down his spine.

“Kagami-kun is very stubborn when it comes to soul mates.” Kuroko explains, I’m sure I told you this earlier.”

“Yeah but I didn’t think you were serious.”

“Kuroko, I swear I’m going to murder you.”

“You can’t do that if you don’t open your eyes, Kagami-kun.”

“I told you your soulmate was Aominecchi!” He hears Kise behind him, to which he replies with: “Shut up Kise!”, his head turning slightly in the general direction.

He hears footsteps, then a looming presence in front of him and he turns forward. “So you’re my soul mate huh? Not bad…”

Kagami scoffs, rolling his eyes behind his lids, “Probably better than you.”

“Well you wouldn’t know that now would you? I bet you were overwhelmed with the colors just now that you didn’t even see me, not really at least.” The tone the other was using was teasing, flirtatious almost, and absolutely sickening for Kagami. He could already feel his hate for Aomine.

He sighs and shrugs, “What about you? Why aren’t you affected by the color thing?” He asks, referring to how he had almost fallen over and the other seemed perfectly fine.

“I saw you from outside the window.” The other explains. “If it makes you feel any better I actually fell down.”

Kagami doesn’t reply, though he does feel a tad bit better, too busy contemplating his choices. He could turn and run, there was a back door to the restaurant, but he would probably be too disoriented by the color thing. He could open his eyes and face Aomine, but then what? He wanted nothing to do with him and talking would have something to do with him. So in the end, his only choice would be to run away. Thats what he had planned all along right? To run away, run far, far away and never look back. And now that he thought about it, there was no rule or law or anything stating that he must stay with his soul mate after they met. He could just apologize to Aomine and leave. He just hoped the other would understand.

Slowly, he blinks his eyes open, still overwhelmed by the changes to his world. He’s quick to turn his head, doing his best to avoid looking at Aomine just yet. His eyes land on Kise, who was smiling the widest smile he’d ever seen, taking in the colors the other presented. His hair was bright.  Something similar to the color of the table. Yellow. Thats what Kise had told him before. His clothes were similar to black, but not, something with more depth - he’d have to ask about it later. Next, was Kuroko, who was standing near Aomine. The boy’s hair was blue, as the other had told him, a light blue that made Kagami smile. He decides he likes blue, and now he wonders what the other shades of this color looks like and if he would like them too. His eyes drift down to his hands. The color of his skin was like Kuroko’s, not too light, like Kise’s, and then his shoes catches his eyes, and he leans down to get a better look.  People had described that they were red and black. He knew what black was, so that meant that the flick in the middle was red. His hair was red. What a strange color for hair to be.

Finally, he glances at Aomine. He didn’t want to seem like a wimp or a wuss or whatever, so he straightens up and holds his head high. Huge mistake. Muscular, tall (just a bit taller than him), incredibly well built; arms, exposed by a black tank top, were defined and toned. His face, Kagami bet, could rival that of a god, with a mouth both wicked and sensual. His high cheekbones and a slightly pointed chin added to the god effect and Kagami felt himself subconsciously lick his lips. His hair was cut shorter than his own and not as wild, gently parted at the side. He saw that the color was similar to Kuroko’s just a lot darker, and suspected that this was a different shade of blue - yes, he was right, he likes blue very much. Finally, his eyes. They meet and Kagami had to dig his nails into the tender flesh of his palms to hold himself back, though from what exactly, he wasn’t sure. Hold himself back from pouncing on his soul mate, or hold himself back from running? He wasn’t so sure if either were out of the question at the moment.  Because, while he was feeling very attracted to the other male at the moment, and in a way, he did feel ‘complete’, he really wanted no part of it and could think of no other way than to run from this.

Aomine’s eyes were like his hair, dark and deep and Kagami desperately needed a specific name for this shade because it made him feel like he could swim in it forever and get lost and not even care.

“I think we broke him.” Kise breaks the silence, causing the American to snap back to reality. He realizes that he was staring at Aomine with his lips slightly parted and probably the most stupid and blank expression he could muster.

“A-ah…” He lowers his head quickly, noticing that Aomine was carrying a single duffle bag with him. Probably his luggage. It was strange, he seemed like the type of person who would have a few huge bags just for a week long trip; guess you can’t exactly judge a book by its cover. He unfists his hands and instantly feels the effects in his tendons, now experiencing a dull pain. Crescent shaped impressions are left in his palm, and he had a sudden urge to trace his fingers over them, a weird habit he had picked up when he was younger.

He hears Aomine snicker, and sees him raise his arms up, probably to cross over his chest. “Like what you see?”

“You wish.” Kagami throws back, voice surprisingly strong. He takes a deep breath. Two choices. Stay, or run. If he ran, he’d have to meet with the Kuroko and Kise eventually, and he doubts Aomine would leave him alone after this anyway. Unless… he didn’t care for the soul mate thing. “Aomine…-san…” He mutters, raising his head just as a few people shove past him to head towards the exit.

“Why don’t we sit down first?” Kuroko suggests, “We are standing in the middle of the restaurant.”

And so, the four take their seats, Kagami next to Kuroko, and across from Aomine.  Kagami was on the inside, probably to prevent him from escaping. “Look, Aomine-san I--”

“Why’re you adding the ‘san’? We’re soul mates aren’t we?”

Kagami sighs and nods, rolling a straw wrapper between his fingers, “We are, that’s what I wanted to talk about tactually. I’m sure you’ve already heard from Kuroko about how I feel about the whole soul mates thing.”

“Yeah, not a big deal, you’ll get over it.”

Eyebrows furrowing, the redhead cocks his head to the side in question, “What? I’ll get over it? So even if I didn’t want to be with you you’d force me?”

“That’s the idea.” The other looked so, _so_ bored, arms crossed lazily over his chest and slouching back on the booth. He didn’t look interested in Kagami’s feelings at all, let alone care about them. Being the complete opposite, Kagami felt angered by this, frustrated even. But this was getting off topic, he wasn’t going to stay with the other anyway; he wouldn’t have to care about being forced to do anything.

“Aomine-san. I don’t want to be with you.” He states, voice even and loud enough to be heard.

This catches the other’s attention and he straightens up, smirking, “Like you can prevent it. We’re supposed to be together, it’s tradition.”

“Well, screw tradition. I don’t want to be held back, especially by someone like you.”

“What the hell does that mean? Why would I hold you back?” Aomine drew forward, eyes boring into Kagami’s.

“Because you’re my soul mate!” Kagami raises his voice, then hit on the cheek by a balled up napkin the next second. He turns his head to glare at Kuroko.

“We’re in a restaurant, don’t yell, Kagami-kun.”

Kise, who was surprisingly quiet this whole time, speaks up as well. He looked a bit unsure of what to do and was rubbing the back of his neck as he spoke. “Ah, why don’t you two spend some time together? Maybe it wouldn’t be as bad as you thought Kagamicchi.”

“I _really_ doubt that. I might have considered it though if my soul mate wasn’t such an _asshole_.”

“How do you know I’m an asshole? You don’t even know me.” Aomine replies, going back to his lazy position.

“That's my point!” Kagami growls just as Kuroko  rolls his eyes with a sigh.

“Aomine-kun, you might as well try to get alone with him, remember? You’ll be staying at his place.”

“Who’s staying at whose place now?” Kagami says, eyes squinting at his teammate.

Kuroko calmly returns his stare. “I was planning on asking you to let Aomine-kun stay with you at your apartment if he was your soulmate. It is quite spacious and maximizing the space doesn't sound so bad.”

Massaging his temples, Kagami sighs exasperatedly. “You want me to let a complete stranger into my apartment to live with me just because he happens to be my soul mate. Gee, Kuroko, that’s a wonderful idea.”

He feels a sharp pain on his knees and cringes. _Note to self, do not use sarcasm on Kuroko._ Kagami gives Kise a look that says ‘control your boyfriend, why don’t you’ but the latter acts like he didn’t notice the brutality going on between the two of them. He was never any help anyway.

“Uh, hello? I’m right in front of you two? I can hear everything you guys are saying.” States Aomine a little irritably. Kuroko ignores him and so does Kagami.

“Did you forget that you owe me for getting you a pass from practice when Himuro-san and Alex-san dragged you around the day before we had a game for regionals? ” The almost unnoticeable icy tone in Kuroko’s voice surprises all three males in front of him. “And how about every time I let you borrow my notes for Japanese Literature because you fell asleep in class?”

“I’d never forget any of those and trust me, I’d do anything for you, just don’t ask this of me.” Kagami is close to begging; and he’d do it too, at least when it involved something he was highly opposed to. “I’d treat you to three milkshakes a day if you’d just drop the topic.”

“Mmm, tempting. But no thanks.” He says emotionlessly. “Anyway, Aomine-kun here just needs a place to stay temporarily. The room he’s supposed to be staying at isn’t available at the moment.”

“Terrific.” exclaims Kagami. “But what does that have to do with me? Why not at yours and Kise’s place?”

The said couple give him a fond look while Aomine grimaces. “Do you honestly think I’d survive it if I lived with these two lovebirds in their little love nest? Are you not aware of what happens when two lovers live together?”

Kise shushes him, “Quiet, Aominecchi! That’s one of Kagamicchi’s charm points.”

Confused at the attention he was getting, Kagami feels his cheeks redden slightly. “Love nest? Charm points?”

Kuroko hums appreciatively. “Kagami-kun’s innocent obliviousness.”

Aomine feigns gagging and brushes the topic aside. “Whatever let’s just ignore whatever was said.”

It took a few moments for Kagami to understand everything, his cheeks slowly turning into a shade of red brighter than his hair. “Oh.” he whispers and Kise laughs, earning him a small kick from Kuroko from under the table. “Well… still. Why does he have to stay with me? I’m sure he has money, right?”

“I’m sure he does, but you’re soul mates, so I figured it was alright for him to stay with you.” Kuroko admits, having thought his reasoning was justifiable.

Yet again, Kagami felt like he had hit a stalemate with Kuroko. He’s told the other a countless amount of times that there would be no soul mate in his future no matter what; and yet here they were, the other choosing to forget how he felt and push this task to him. “Kuroko.” He speaks seriously, his patience beginning to wear out. "You know how I feel about this topic and it’s a bit irritating how you keep pushing it on me. The answer is no and that's final."

His friend is quiet for a few moments, probably thinking of how to apologize, thought Kagami, so what he said next surprised him. "I bet you're just scared." His voice was sure, still calm and collected, but confident, "You're scared that you'll give into the soul mate legend and fall for Aomine-kun."

Kagami stares at Kuroko, face tense. Was this it? Was this really it? He was so convinced that it was because of his current resolve, that he was just being safe and didn’t want a stranger in his home, but had Kuroko seen through it all? He knew the other was good at observing others, but to figure out something that Kagami had been denying… well, actually, no. That wasn’t so shocking. He’s been told that he was dense. “No… thats not it.” He finally replies, “I just don’t want a stranger in my house.”

“I’m not a stranger, I’m your soulm--” Aomine had spoken up, only to be gutted by Kise who was sure that Kuroko was just about to crack Kagami wide open.

“Oi! Kise! What the hell was that for!?” The blue haired boy rubs his stomach, grimacing at the pain.

“Just be quiet for a moment. Kurokocchi can handle this.”

Kuroko, who had been ignoring the two guys across from him, continues, “Kagami-kun. I’m sure that by now you’ve realized that that is indeed not the only reason why.” He takes a moment to collect his thoughts once more before deciding that there was only one way to get his teammate to agree, “I’ll make a bet with you. I bet that by the end of the week, in which Aomine-kun will be staying with you, you will fall in love with him.

“And what makes you think that I’ll accept this bet of yours?”

Kuroko gives him a hard stare. “If you win, I’ll stop pestering you about your soul mate. And you can ignore Aomine-kun as much as you want.”

“Hey!” Aomine protests. Again, Kuroko ignores him.

“And if I win, well, you lose nothing. And you get a boyfriend.”

Kagami hesitates, this uneasy feeling settling in his stomach. This was a good deal; too good of a deal in fact.  No matter how he thought about it, there was no way for him to get the bad end of the stick. “What’s the catch?” He asks cautiously.

Kuroko shakes his head, “No catch.”

“Come on Kagamicchi, it’s just five days. When midnight on Sunday hits, you don’t even have to deal with him anymore if you don’t want!” Kise urges, really wanting this to work out.

“Okay seriously, I’m sitting right here.” Aomine cuts in, though once again, no one pays attention to him.

Its a few moments of hesitation before Kagami gives a slight nod and sighs, “Okay fine. I’ll… do it…”

“Tch, it’s like we’re forcing you to jump off a cliff or something.” Aomine grumbles, and this time, the other basketball players pay attention.

“It might as well be.” Kagami snaps back, sending a glare at the boy - oh gosh he was already regretting this. He turns to Kuroko just as Aomine starts speaking again, though effectively blocks him out, “I… We, should be leaving then. I have a class in a bit.”

“Right, of course.” The boy starts to scoot out of the booth, Kise mirroring his boyfriend. “Don’t forget we have practice this evening.”

Kagami mumbles, “I know”, as he slides out of the booth and irritably waits for Aomine to gather his things to follow him. “See ya later guys.” He waves to his friends, who waved back, and heads out the door, almost blinded by how different and… colored it was now. “I’m not gonna get used to this.” He sighs and heads down the street to his apartment. The streets aren’t much different from when he was still in the grayscale, the only thing that was different were the junk that littered the streets, the array of colors of chewed, old gum, and bags of fast food and the different people walking about. He felt a dull, throbbing pain start, a headache in his frontal lobe, and gently rubs his head. “Stupid colors.” He glances at Aomine, who was just a step behind him, “Stupid soul mate…”

“Your hair.” He suddenly hears beside him, and he turns his head completely to face the other, “It’s… red? I believe. Kuroko told me. I like that color.”

Kagami was speechless for a few moments. Was Aomine trying to be nice? Was he flirting? He tries not to think about it too much and replies with a half hearted ‘thanks’.

Its barely a second before Aomine speaks once more, “You can at least try to act like you care.”

Annoyance bubbles inside Kagami, “Says the guy who gives a crap about my feelings.

“What? I totally care about you.” The words are thrown around without much feeling or seriousness in it, like a promise that you know would be broken.

“Oh, don’t give me that crap. Earlier you said that you’d be together with me whether I wanted to or not.”

Aomine waves his hand lazily as if dismissing something, “That's different.”

“How is that different? Thats basically saying that despite  my feelings, you’re going to do what you wish.”

“Yeah well… I don’t know what your problem is anyway.”

Kagami stops in front of his apartment complex and turns to Aomine, eyes narrowed in annoyance, “Right now, my problem is you.” He takes a deep breath, doing his best to not turn this into an over dramatic scene; they were still in public and he didn’t like being a public nuisance.

“Hah? How am I your problem? I’m just trying to talk to you.”

Kagami throws his hands up in the air and open the door to his apartment building, speeding into the elevator with Aomine hot on his trial.

The two stay quiet as they head up to his room, Kagami almost fuming and the other still casual and comfortable and pretty dense.

“I have class in an hour.” Kagami explains as soon as he opens the door to his apartment. Well, technically it was supposed to be for him and his dad, but he was still working in Japan, so he ended up living by himself. Not that it mattered, he was in college now. He pauses at the door for just a moment, but moves quickly before the other could ram into him. His home looked so different now with all the colors. It was overwhelming.

Overwhelming, was just an understatement.

He didn’t know the names to many of the colors littering his home, only the red of legs for the glass table, and the blue of the back wall. He’d have to do his research when he had more time. “I don’t really want to go since you’re here--”

“Oh? Warming up to me already?” Aomine asks, the phrase practically drowning in teasing.

“No. I just don’t trust you in my home by yourself. You’re just going to have to come with me.”

Aomine shoots a look of horror and slight despair at Kagami as he sets his bag down in the living room next to the couch. The room was spacious, but simple and a bit empty. All there was in the living room was a cream colored couch that looked hardly big enough for Kagami to sit on, a glass table with neatly piled magazines (basketball ones of, course) and a flat screen television that seemed too big for the small room. There were also a pair of sliding doors off the side of the room, leading to the balcony. “I don’t have to start class till next week, no way in hell am I gonna start now.” Aomine plops himself down on the couch as the other disappears into the hallway.

“Well too bad!” He hears from his soulmate, (half-yell) at him, “I need to go to class, and you’re not staying here alone!” He hears some huffs and rustling from where Kagami was, and turns his head lazily to that direction. He couldn’t see anything of course, not until the other emerged a few moments later carrying out a spotted blue blanket and two pillows. He releases the items onto Aomine’s lap, the other staring at it in disgust.

“Whats this for?” He asks, picking on a loose thread of the fabric.

“You’re sleeping on the couch.” Kagami explains.

“Hah?” Aomine’s expression would be endearing if the redhead didn’t hate him. It reminded him of a child who just got refused an extra cookie or candy. “It’s too small though!” He complains.

Kagami shrugs and heads off to gather his supplies for his history class - which only comprised of his textbook and his laptop. “Either that, or the floor.”

“How big’s your bed?”

“You’re not sleeping on my bed.”

“Why not?”

Kagami sighs. _This was going no where._ He swings his backpack over his shoulder and tugs his Lakers lanyard over his head. “Because, we’re not dating or anything. You’re practically a stranger, so you get the couch.”

There’s a dangerous glint in Aomine’s eyes in the next second. “There you go again about this stranger stuff. Look, we’re soulmates for a reason. Obviously, we’d be good together. So suck it up and accept it already.”

The other was still under the pile of fabric and fluff he had set on him, and if it was anyone else, Kagami imagines, he wouldn’t be that terrified. But for some reason, there was something in Aomine’s voice that… irked him. It made him stop and think for a moment. Yes, it was true, they were soulmates, for whatever reason he didn’t know, but there had to be one. He shakes his head to himself, it wasn’t the time to be thinking about this; it was never the time to be thinking about this.

“I’ve accepted it.” He admits, “I have to accept it. But I’m not going to ‘suck it up’ and go along with it.” Aomine opens his mouth, barely getting a syllable out as the other speaks over him, “I’ve denied this _thing_ my whole life and just because you show up doesn’t mean I’m just going to forget everything and welcome you with open arms. I’m only helping you because Kuroko bet me, and I _always_ win my bets, so don’t think anything more of it, okay?” Kagami’s fists are tight, his knuckles pale. His voice is tense and for some reason, he finds himself breathing heavily.

The expression Aomine wears is a bit hard to describe. It’s not confusion, not fully, and not exactly amazement either. It was a mix of bewilderment, maybe a dash of terror mixed in, with a bit of respect and anger. And a pinch of frustration. Was there a word for that?

“So… do I still have to sleep on the couch then?” Aomine asks after a few long seconds, expression back to normal and in check. His sleeping arrangements were obviously a far greater concern of his than Kagami’s feelings and sudden outburst.

Kagami’s shoulders slump forward as he takes a deep breath and rubs his temples, “I shouldn’t have taken this bet…”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update! I was planning on posting this a week or so after the first chapter but I got caught up with AP classes and graduation stuff... Anyway! I hope this chapter was worth the wait :)

**Author's Note:**

> so this plot is actually from a short story i wrote for creative writing and then i just decided to make an aokaga story out of it and this was the results! a bit cliche and all, but whatever, you know you love it. anyway, thanks for reading! hope you enjoyed it ^^


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